


Can You Hear Me Now?

by JadedSkylark



Series: Mission: Start [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassin AU, Canonical Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Psychological Torture, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:32:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadedSkylark/pseuds/JadedSkylark
Summary: Sometimes spies are sent to a large, lavish place in the middle of a luxurious city to find their target and take them out in the simplest way possible; sometimes spies are sent to third-world countries with no running water or electricity to find their target; and sometimes spies are sent to a place somewhere in the middle, forced into a civilian role in the town they need to take residence in so as to not raise suspicion. ... “Ready to start the mission?” “I was born ready.”





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes spies are sent to a large, lavish place in the middle of a luxurious city to find their target and take them out in the simplest way possible; sometimes spies are sent to third-world countries with no running water or electricity to find their target; and sometimes spies are sent to a place somewhere in the middle, forced into a civilian role in the town they need to take residence in so as to not raise suspicion. These instances are rare, as taking on a civilian life can distract a lesser trained spy from their original mission. It can draw their attention from catching, say, a mass murderer who has escaped to a small town in the mid-western United States. These types of distractions are liabilities to any spy's original reason for their relocation. They are costly to both regular civilians and spies alike; therefore, only the best spies are sent on these type of missions. Spies who are easily able to balance a double life and do well in both lives are the ones often sent on these types of relocation missions, and they are the ones who excel the most brilliantly at them as well.

That is why Takashi Shirogane and Keith Kogane, brothers by law and half by blood, were sent to the moderately sized town of Castle, where the Voltron Lions had won every football game for the past three decades and where an underground drug cartel had recently relocated themselves, to. That is why Takashi and Keith were packing their newly bought civilian clothes into their newly bought civilian luggage cases. That is why Takashi and Keith were boarding a plane for said town in the middle of the night before the new school year began, to begin Black and Red's most recently assigned mission.

“Why do I need to pretend to be a student again?” Keith groaned, shoving a shirt into his suitcase. “I know everything they could teach in a school! Why can't I be a teacher too? Or pretend I'm home schooled?”

Shiro gently closed his bag and looked over to his brother, a frown prominent on his lips. “Because you're the age of a high schooler, and it'll be less suspicious if you're a student at the school I'm teaching at. It'll be good for you to be around people your own age again, Keith.”

“Last time I went to a school, the kids tried to bully me.”

“Yes, and you broke a kid's hand and nearly blew our cover. I trust your temper has lessened over the years.”

“I was 14, Shiro! They called me weak and you a fag; of course I broke his hand!”

The elder crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow in question. “So I'm wrong about your temper getting better then?”

Keith opened his mouth, shutting it quickly again. He pressed his lips together in annoyance and turned back to his bag, shoving the last of his shirts in without bothering to fold them. Shiro was right; his temper had lessened over the years, but it was still glaringly obvious at times. If Keith wanted this mission to go smoothly, he was going to have to abide more strictly to their company's code of conduct. After all, Marmora Co. held it's employees in the light of the highest level of scrutiny. Keith had barely passed his yearly evaluation exams due to his temper. That, after all, was his only downfall according to the company.

Keith heaved the suitcase from the bed and turned to Shiro. “All right, let's go.”

Shiro grinned, patting his brother on the back as they left their temporary hotel room. It was the last time they would see a hotel room before a mission in a long time, but at the time, neither of them would have guessed such a thing. This mission was meant to be a quick one. A year in the town; a year to scope out the hiding place of the the drug cartel led by Zarkon; a year to take out their target and leave without another word. That was all they had to do, and it was more time than either really needed. Shiro and Keith both knew they could finish their mission in three months, tops.

But they were so, so very wrong.

~

“Okay, your schedule for the school is on the fridge. I've already arranged that you have Physics with me, of course, so if needed we can converse about the mission during class time,” Shiro spoke as he set his luggage on the floor of the living room. “I trust you still remember the code words for school?”

 

Keith shrugged off his bag and went to the kitchen to grab his schedule. As he looked over his classes, he shouted out a confirmation to Shiro's question. There was a problem with the schedule, though.

“Black, why do I have 'Study Hall'? Isn't that for kids who need help with their studies?”

Shiro glanced up from his own schedule and frowned. “No. It's just for extra study time to do homework because most of the kids at this school have other responsibilities outside of class. They request getting put into study hall. I'm actually covering that class, apparently.”

Keith frowned, looking over his schedule one last time before shoving it into his pocket. He glanced at the clock, noting they had two hours until Shiro needed to be at school for his teacher debriefing before classes started an hour after that. They had time to unpack and lay out the starting details for their plan, but Shiro looked ready to pass out at any moment.

“Do you want some coffee?”

Shiro glanced up from his own sheet of paper, gaze unfocused for a moment before he blinked himself back to reality. He nodded, a hint of laughter in his sheepish expression. “Yeah, I'd appreciate that. I don't remember the last time I slept.”

“On it. Take a nap or something. We can't have you pass out in the middle of class- or during a raid for that matter,” Keith scolded, more annoyed by having to smell the disgusting scent of coffee as it was being made just so Shiro could stay alive for the day.

Shiro chuckled, settling himself on the couch. Before the coffee was even actually started, Shiro was already fast asleep. He snored softly, out like a light the instant his eyes closed. The soft sound of snoring and the drip of coffee filled the house, creating a temporary yet calm lull. Keith let out a sigh and made his way to his room, picking up his luggage on the way so he could unpack. He didn't have much, mostly weapons and armor, but he could still go ahead and get it put up before he needed to go pretend to be a normal high school student.

He'd have to find a way to hide a blade on his person in case of an emergency at the school. Sure, he had plenty of hidden sheaths but those were usually for larger blades and short raids, not 8 hour school days where he'd be around hundreds of teenagers with no clue of how to even hold a sword, let alone use one. Keith sat on the middle of his bed and opened up his suitcase, sliding the larger blades out and sitting them beside him. He picked through the weapons before finally plucking out a short dagger and a sheath that wrapped around his shoulder. It'd be perfectly hidden as long as no one touched his chest.

Keith heard a soft beep from the kitchen and sighed. He quickly put on the blade and pulled on a red button up shirt before heading into the kitchen. Shiro was still fast asleep on the couch. For an assassin, he was a heavy sleeper. It was difficult to wake him up sometimes- when he actually slept, that is. Shiro probably didn't even know what a full night's sleep was at this point. Keith shook his head, thinking back to when he first witnessed Shiro pass out from lack of sleep. It had actually been kind of funny walking into their apartment at the time to see his brother sprawled halfway on the couch and halfway on the floor, snoring as loudly as possible.

Pouring a mug of coffee, Keith glanced at the time. Only a few minutes before Shiro would need to leave for work. Keith slid the mug aside and just carried the pot of coffee to the living room. Leaning down, he placed the pot in front of Shiro's face, watching as the smell slowly woke up his brother. Shiro's eyes fluttered open before widening.

“What time is it?!” He asked, almost panicked.

“Time for you to get your things together so we can leave. I'm going to do a patrol around the school while you're in your teacher meeting.” Keith handed over the pot, almost grimacing as Shiro leaned his head back and drank the burning liquid black.

Shiro didn't move until the pot was drained, standing up and making his way to the kitchen to drop the pot into the sink before rushing to his room. It took barely a minute for him to get ready, walking back out with a briefcase in one hand and a bag in the other. He handed over the bag to Keith and adjusted his tie in the mirror before turning back to his brother and grinning.

“Ready to start the mission?”

“I was born ready.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is going to be a slow starting fic, and this is only the first part in the series. This first story is really just for the team coming together and the starting stories for each character in the team. Shiro's and Keith backgrounds wil even be included later on as flashbacks, so stay tuned!

The moment Shiro stepped into the school, he began to regret his career path. He could feel himself being cut off, the life sucked out of him by the mere atmosphere of the school. Maybe being an assassin wasn't so great because he didn't have to go to high school like others had in their teen years, but now he had to teach in one. And he couldn't just fake his way through this- he had to actually teach these kids physics.

He was going to need more coffee. He'd probably set up a coffee maker on his desk in his classroom. That was a good idea. He'd had to find one after classes ended today, he thought. Until then, he could just take some from the teacher's lounge, which was ironically where he was heading to meet the Principal, Mr. Alfor Altea. Most students called him just Alfor unless they were scared of him- which was literally no one unless they knew of his past. To Shiro, Alfor was known as Agent King, the former best agent in Shiro's company. He was the reason Shiro was able to easily get the job here for the mission. He was the reason Keith could so easily get into the school with little to no previous experience.

Shiro pushed open the door to the teacher's lounge, vaguely noticing Keith's silhouette walk past the window as he patrolled the outside of the school before the students began to arrive. Keith always felt more at ease when he knew all the ins and outs of his base. Shiro smiled softly, looking into the room and noticing a thin woman standing by the Principal's side, speaking to him in a hushed voice. Shiro couldn't hear the conversation and he wasn't about to try to, so he cleared his throat. Instantly, both the woman and Alfor turned around to look at him. Shiro recognized the woman to be Alfor's daughter, currently known within the company as Agent Princess, and a senior, herself, at the high school- Allura Altea.

“I'm sorry, Mr. Shirogane, I didn't hear you come in,” Alfor chuckled, standing up and making his way to Shiro. He held his hand out for the younger man, and Shiro reached forward to grasp it in a firm shake with his prosthetic arm.

“I tend to move too quiet for most people to hear me, so it isn't a problem, sir. No need to apologize.”

Alfor laughed, shaking Shiro's hand once before letting go. “You're a kind one for someone involved so deeply in your field, Mr. Shirogane.”

“I try, sir. And please, call me Shiro.”

The principal nodded, turning to his daughter. “Dear, we'll continue this conversation at home. I want to give Shiro here a quick run through for the school and his position before you show him to his classroom.”

Allura smiled, nodding to her father. “Yes, Father. I'll get some coffee going and leave you to it until classes are about to start.”

“Now, Shiro,” Alfor began as he turned back to look at the younger man, his tone going more stern. “Shall we begin the debriefing?”

~~~

Keith already hated this school. He was wrong to think that no students would be at the school this early in the morning- wrong to think he could survey the stupid school building with no problems at all. Keith was halfway through checking all the entrances and exits of the school when he turned the corner of the school and was greeted with the football field- brightly lit and covered with teenage boys running every direction possible. It wouldn't have annoyed him as much if they hadn't noticed him and all stopped and turned to look at him. It wouldn't have annoyed him if one of them hadn't decided to jog over to him, too stunned to even move because there was a cute boy running toward him, and grinned brightly at him.

Keith nearly fainted at the sight of the smile and instantly knew this was going to be really difficult for him. He really should have just not agreed to go with Shiro on this mission; he should have agreed to only go under the pretense that he could act under cover of shadows and not have to go to school. He should have done something so as to not have to be greeted so early in the morning with the brightest eyes and the brightest, kindest smile he had ever seen. Keith was almost so distracted by the smile that he nearly didn't catch what the cute boy was saying.

“-on't think I've seen you around here before. I'm Lance,” the cute boy- Lance, his name was Lance- said, still smiling as he looked down to Keith.

Keith opened his mouth soundlessly before clearing his throat. “Yeah, I'm new. First day. Keith.”

 _Good one, Keith, you can't even form a full sentence in front of the cute guy_ , he thought to himself.

Said cute guy laughed softly, the sound making Keith's heart flutter. “You sound nervous. I get that. I do make a lot of people nervous with my good looks.”

_Great, he's pretentious, too._

Keith found himself frowning after Lance spoke that time. Yeah, he was still cute, but Keith didn't really like people who were full of themselves. “And now I'm leaving.”

The assassin turned around, focusing on going back to his patrol of the school. He heard Lance make a surprised and choked up sound behind him but didn't bother turning around. Lance glanced back at his teammates and waved, signaling for them to go back to practice, before hurrying to catch up with Keith. He fell into step beside the shorter and looked over with a smile.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad. Like I said, I'm Lance. And you're Keith.”

“I know who I am.”

“I know that! That's why I'm going to walk with you so I can show you around!” Lance announced. “I wasn't suppose to see you until classes started, and I was going to show you around after. Since you're here now, though, I can go ahead and show you around. I know this school like the back of my ha-”

Keith glanced up at him, holding a hand up. “You can show me around, just stop talking. It's too early for this.”

Lance's lips twisted into a slightly bemused smile as he nodded to Keith. “Didn't sleep much last night?”

“You could say that,” Keith muttered, pulling out his phone to check the time. “Okay, I'll let you show me around, I guess. I have to meet my brother before classes start, though.”

“I heard there was a new teacher here this year, too. Is that your brother?”

Keith just nodded, not bothering with a response. His eyes were surveying the layout of the land as he walked beside Lance to the school's main entrance. Once they passed the doorways, Lance began to ramble on about where everything was. Keith found his voice soothing despite being distracted by analyzing every detail of the school he was meant to study in for a year. Lance would occasionally go on a tangent about things that had happened in certain spots he was showing Keith.

“-and this is apparently the 'make-out corner.' The teachers don't patrol here apparently, and there are no cameras here,” Lance announced, pointing to a hidden, dark area of the hallway.

Keith stopped, staring at the corner for a second before rolling his eyes. “Seriously? That's one of the first things you tell a new kid at this school?”

“Yeah, when the new kid is cute.”

Keith frowned, ignoring his heartbeat as he continued walking. He began to pull ahead of Lance, slightly aiming to get away from him. “Whatever. When's this tou-”

“Keith, wait-”

A thud could have resounded through the hallway from how hard Keith slammed into his brother's chest, his nose popping out of place as it hit pure muscle on Shiro's chest. Keith bounced back, his hand flying to his nose and his gaze reaching up to Shiro's mortified face. Keith's eyes slowly made their way to the principal beside Shiro, former Agent King.

“I would say watch where you're going, but did you just fracture your nose on his chest?” Lance asked, his voice breaking the silence of the hallway.

Keith blinked slowly, not knowing how to respond to the situation in the moment. He just looked to Shiro, his brother's shock slowly shifting to outright hilarity. Keith saw the slow change in Shiro's lips as he began to laugh, cackle actually, at the look on Keith's face. Shiro nearly doubled over in amusement as Keith's shock changed to rage. Keith smacked his brother over the head, only causing Shiro to laugh even harder.

“I ca-can't believe you did that again!”

Lance was only barely heard over Shiro's laughing and Alfor's soft chuckle. “Again?!”

Keith groaned and smacked his brother's arm. “Just reset it, asshole.”

Shiro began to laugh again at the slight change in Keith's voice due to his out of place nose. He slowly stood up, still giggling to himself, and quickly jerked Keith's nose back into place. “There, klutz. I fixed it- again.”

Keith groaned, shoving his way past his brother. Lance looked between the two and the principal before pointing to Keith with his finger. “I'm, uh... Going to go, uh... Finish his tour of the school?”

The teen hesitated, still looking at the adults in a slightly confused manner, before finally stepping around Shiro and following along after Keith. He shouted out to the other to catch his attention, barely hearing the muffled explanation Shiro was giving to Alfor. Instead of dwelling on it, Lance just jogged up beside Keith.

“Is your nose okay?”

“Don't patronize me, Lance.”

“I wasn't! Is it really okay?” he asked, tilting around slightly to look more towards Keith's face. Keith glared over at him in response. “Oooooookaaaay, so the tour? That's actually over; I've showed you everything, but I want to make sure you get to class. Is that okay?”

Keith's glare slowly lessened, his expression softening back to one of annoyance. “Do what you want.”

Lance grinned, going quiet as he walked beside Keith. He glanced over at the other, studying him as they walked. Keith was cute- Lance wasn't lying about that, but there was something else about him that interested Lance. He had a fire in him, and he wasn't trying to be mean- he just came across that way. Lance hoped they could be friends, but he'd only known the guy for a few minutes so who knew if that would change. Keith could be some mass murderer for all Lance knew.

Little did he know, he wasn't that far off from the truth.

 


End file.
